Born to Run

In June 2011, two AmeriCorps volunteers—one, a Virginian and the other from Connecticut—kicked off their boots, went nomad and started Bedrock Sandals to make super-minimalist running sandals.

Dan Opalacz and co-founder Nick Pence, a Charlottesville native, took inspiration from Christopher McDougall’s book, Born to Run, the story of Mexico’s Tarahumara Indians, who run marathon distances in huaraches made of tire-tread without suffering typical runner’s injuries. “We got nylon paracord and some Vibram [branded rubber] sheets from a local cobbler,” Opalacz says. “We diced up a really haggard pair. You really had to be a Boy Scout to actually tie these up to get them to stay on your feet.”

They soon replaced leather and knots with outdoor-grade nylon webbing and a backpack buckle, used a 6mm Vibram sole, and the Bedrock Earthquake was born. They raised over $10,000 in a Kickstarter campaign and set up their base of operations in Opalacz’s Subaru-powered ’86 VW van before moving to their current digs in downtown Charlottesville in spring 2013.

Bedrock sold about 4,500 pairs of sandals in 2013, about three-and-a-half times what they sold in 2012, mostly online. They also sell through a limited number of boutiques, including some in Japan. Plans are in development, says Opalacz, for a California operation in West Oakland, a physical presence in their biggest market.